At the end of the 30s of the last century, physicists came to the conclusion that it is possible to carry out a nuclear chain reaction that can lead to an explosion of enormous force. It has been determined that some radioactive substances can be a source of extremely powerful energy. These findings served as the starting point for the development of the atomic bomb, which changed the balance of power on the planet.
Development of the atomic bomb
The idea of creating an atomic bomb attracted specialists from many countries. Scientists and engineers from the USA, USSR, England, Germany and Japan worked on these developments. The Americans, who had the best technological base and raw materials, and who also managed to attract the most powerful intellectual resources at that time, were especially active in this area.
The United States government has set the physicists the task of creating a new type of weapon in the shortest possible time, which could be delivered to the most remote point of the planet.
Los Alamos, located in the uninhabited desert of New Mexico, became the center of American nuclear research. Many scientists, designers, engineers and the military worked on the top-secret military project, while the experienced theoretical physicist Robert Oppenheimer, who is most often called the "father" of atomic weapons, was in charge of the entire work. Under his leadership, the best specialists around the world developed the technology of a controlled atomic explosion, without interrupting the search process for a minute.
By the fall of 1944, the activities for the creation of the first in the history of the atomic bomb, in general terms, came to an end. By this time, a special aviation regiment had already been formed in the United States, which was to carry out the tasks of delivering lethal weapons to the places of their use. The regiment's pilots underwent special training, performing training flights at different altitudes and in conditions close to combat.
The first atomic bombings
In mid-1945, US designers were able to assemble two nuclear devices ready for use. The first targets for the strike were also selected. Japan was the strategic enemy of the United States at the time.
The American leadership decided to launch the first atomic strikes on two Japanese cities in order to intimidate not only Japan with this action, but also other countries, including the USSR.
On August 6th and 9th, 1945, American bombers dropped the first ever atomic bombs on the unsuspecting inhabitants of Japanese cities such as Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As a result, more than one hundred thousand people died from heat radiation and a shock wave. Such were the dire consequences of the use of unprecedented weapons. The world has entered a new phase of its development.
However, the US monopoly on the military use of the atom was not very long. The Soviet Union also strenuously sought ways of practical implementation of the principles underlying nuclear weapons. Igor Kurchatov headed the work of the collective of Soviet scientists and inventors. In August 1949, the tests of the Soviet atomic bomb, which received the working name RDS-1, were successfully carried out. The fragile military balance in the world was restored.
